In my last post, I discussed the grammar issues I focus on in my developmental writing classes: the simple sentence, coordination/subordination, run-ons and fragments, commas, and misspelled/misused words. The question at hand, then, is how I go about teaching these concepts, which, I confess, is a little scary to write about. Why? Well, considering that the whole point of my sabbatical project stems from an unease about the effectiveness of my techniques, I'm not excited to share said sub-par techniques. Since the first step of solving a problem is admitting that there is, in fact, a problem, though, I'll give it to you straight.
We utilize the text Evergreen: A Guide to Writing with Readings by Susan Fawcett (I neither encourage nor discourage the use of this book), and as the students must buy it, I use it. I assign chapters for students to read and sometimes assign some of the exercises in the book. On "Grammar Day," we discuss the concept, practice, and then quiz.
Let's say we're going to discuss sentence combining using coordination and subordination. We'll talk about each type (coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, and conjunctive adverbs), involving me giving examples on the board. Sometimes I've given them a couple of simple sentences to work with (or I have them make up their own simple sentences), and then they practice putting those sentences together in various ways.
One time (and I thought I was being quite clever here), I got two groups of students to come in front of the classroom. Each group got a stack of words (one word per person), and they had to stand in the right order to create two simple sentences. Two people were also periods. Then I assigned other students in the class coordinating and subordinating conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs, commas, and semicolons, and we started combining those two sentences. When I write about it now, it sounds like kind of a good time. I think I only did it twice, though, so it must have been flawed. It may have gotten confusing (if you can imagine).
After the discussion of the concept, we practice. For coordination and subordination, I have students do the following:
Connect the following pairs of sentences by utilizing four of the five different options found on pages 390 and 391. Be sure to add punctuation where necessary and choose the connecting word (coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction, or conjunctive adverb) with the meaning that makes the most sense.
This cactus has flourished
I talk to it every day.
The students then share their answers. Once this is done, we have about 25 minutes left (of a 50-minute class), so we move on to the quiz, which is worth 20 points. Depending on the concept, I use quiz questions from the teacher's edition of the book or just make up my own. The questions for the coordination/subordination quiz are like this (note: the directions and question are from the textbook's quiz bank):
Read each pair of simple sentences below to determine the relationship between them. Then join each pair, using the conjunctions or conjunctive adverbs in parentheses at the left. Punctuate correctly.
1. Arthur was anxious about the benefit dinner.
Only twenty people had responded to the invitation.
(because)_______________________________________________________________
I also try to reinforce the skills we talk about by having a specific grading criteria for that concept tied to whatever piece of writing we're working on, so I look for, say, correct coordination and subordination in that piece when I'm grading it. This is problematic, though, because some students try combining sentences more than other students, so a student who successfully combines sentences in a variety of ways gets the same number of points as a student who combines sentences in only one way or, as is sometimes true in a short paragraph, not at all.
The most creative exercise I use when teaching these concepts is the Comma Game. In this activity, students get into six small groups and start at a station (there are six stations total). At the station, I have a folder with a bunch of slips of paper in it and one envelope. The slips of paper are copies of the same sentence. Students need to put commas in the right place(s) in the sentence, and then take the answer key out of the envelope. On the answer key are three different options for comma placement with a letter next to each, like this:
Station Six Answer Key:
D: While some people might find it embarrassing, I actually enjoy dancing, to polkas.
W: While some people, might find it embarrassing I actually enjoy dancing to polkas.
I: While some people might find it embarrassing, I actually enjoy dancing to polkas.
The students need to then pick out which answer matches their answer (or, if their attempt doesn't match any of them, which one on the answer key is correct), and write down the letter on their slip of paper. They go from station to station, putting in commas, figuring out the correct answers and collecting slips. Ultimately, they unscramble their letters to come up with the right word. If they get the correct word, they get all the points, and they lose points based on how many letters they got wrong.
The game is fun--it mixes things up a bit, but it's got one obvious liability: there's inevitably someone in the group who understands commas more innately than the others, and that person becomes the crutch. Do the others in the group learn the concept well enough, then?
In a nutshell (or pretty long blog post), that's what I do to teach the concepts: skill and drill. I'm not saying that these are "bad" techniques. In fact, I've received a good deal of positive feedback from students on my course evaluations regarding their ability to grasp grammar concepts after being in my classes. That's great to hear, of course, but when some of those same comments contain grammatical/mechanical errors, it's clear to me that there is a difference between students feeling comfortable with the concepts and students being able to apply the concepts.
I also want to stress that I have also seen actual student progress in their writing, though I am concerned about the retention of this knowledge and application in other classes. How do I make it stick? Is there a better (read: more effective) way?
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